Love Has No Equivalency
by Allow Me To Speak
Summary: Then I saw his back. I would recognize that back anywhere. It was a back I had to watch leave me all the time, not knowing where he was headed or when he would return. Edward. Post COS, no swearing save in Japanese. EdWin.
1. Seeing Ed Again

**Okay, this is a post-COS story. And it was inspired by… I forget the name, sorry. But the idea was originally not mine. If you recognize anything (I tried to not steal anything at all), that's why. And so I give inspiration credit to him/her/it. Thank you. *leaves podium***

Winry POV

As I put my spanner back in my toolbox, a flash of color crossed my eye. I reached into my toolbox and picked it up. It was a photo of Ed, Al and me in my living room, the last one taken of us together before Ed disappeared – about four years ago. Ed was holding onto a swelling lump on his head with his left arm (his right arm being on my workbench), yelling at me while I waved my wrench around. Al was in the middle trying to calm the argument.

I sighed. I didn't remember that I had put it in there.

"Something wrong, Miss Rockbell?"

I hastily looked over my shoulder at my patient. "Oh, no, nothing at all!" I chirped, hoping to fool him. He wasn't.

He limped over to my work desk on a spare leg and looked over my shoulder, glancing at the picture. He was a local citizen, so he – of course – knew the boys. He stared at the picture fondly and gave a sad smile. "You really do miss them, don't you?" he asked me.

I closed my eyes and nodded. "Yes. I miss them a lot. Now that Granny's gone, I'm all alone. And they were pretty much the only family I had." Then I closed my toolbox. "But don't mind me. Is that spare fitting you well?"

He nodded and kicked his leg around. "Feel's just fine," he assured me. "I'll be back tomorrow for my new one."

I nodded. "And get some sleep this time!" I admonished him as he left. He only chuckled in response and waved as he walked off.

~*~*~*~*~

I yawned as I headed up to bed. That was a long day's work. He had been in a bad accident and totally busted his leg, leaving me to totally make a new one. It was almost as bad as Ed's usual.

Ed. The thought of him brought unspoken sadness into my heart. I really did miss him. I cared so much about him, worried about him, but he would never tell me anything, never tell me where he was going or what he was doing, or how he busted up his automail every time he came home. All I could do was wait for him to return. But now he couldn't.

Sad thoughts like these lingered in my head as I climbed into bed. I shifted, tossed, and turned for a while, thinking these things over. But finally, I started to feel tired. The last thought that crossed my head before I slept was _'Ed… I wish I could see you again…'_

~*~*~*~*~

Then, the next thing I knew, I was standing in front of some big gate. It was huge, completely made of hard gray stone, carved with drawings so intricate that even if I stared at them for a thousand years, I'd never be able to comprehend them. The center was an eye, giant, unblinking, and seemed to probe right into my very soul. The area surrounding the gate and myself was completely white, with no shadows at all. It felt like eternity – an empty eternity. I shuddered. It was a scary thought. There was nothing around me except that gate – like only it was real.

"_Do you wish to enter?"_ came an age-old, knowledgeable voice. It sounded as though it were coming through rock, yet it was so soft and gentle at the same time.

I spun around quickly, but saw nothing. Then I realized that the voice had come from the gate. I turned to face it.

"_Do you wish to enter?"_ It asked again.

From some sudden realization, I became aware of the fact that _this_ was the very gate that took Ed and Al away from me. There was no other possibility.

I looked at the gate – pardon me, the Gate – warily. "What's the exchange?" I asked, not bothering to ask where it would take me. I had a good guess.

"_No exchange."_

Now I was confused. "But what about equivalent exchange? Like what happened to Ed and Al!"

I could swear that the Gate was looking at me. _"They did what was forbidden, so they paid the price. Do you wish to enter?"_

I thought for a moment – Ed would say that the Gate wouldn't lie. I knew and trusted Ed's opinions on a lot of things – except automail. The guy couldn't tell a wrench from a spanner. But back to the point. I knew Ed would be right about this. I looked at the Gate squarely in the carved eye.

"Yes."

The Gate opened. Millions of small black hands – boneless and lengthless, it seemed – reached out and grabbed me, rendering me motionless in its – or was it their? – grasp. I was frightened, but I did trust the Gate. I knew it wouldn't hurt me. Call me strange, but I had a feeling – maybe it was the Gate's Truth. I felt totally calm. Even the feeling of the hands on me had no effect, even though they had no skin, just something that I could never describe, and the feeling of them on me was not a pleasant one. It reminded me of the legs of an octopus (which I hated, by the way).

"One question!" I yelled to the Gate as I was pulled towards it. "Why is there no exchange for me?"

The hands stopped moving. There was silence surrounding me, and I could swear the Gate was pondering its answer. It must've come up with something reasonable, because it said (sounding quite satisfied, might I add), _"Because love has no equivalency."_

I was through before I could ask what it meant.

~*~*~*~*~

I was standing on the top of a grassy hill, beside a tree. At the base of the hill was a giant river, reflecting the lights of the city on the other side, but it reflected no stars – the light of the city drowned them out. Reason one why cities never appealed to me. Bridges connected each side of the river, but since it was nighttime, all was quiet. The place where I was was desolate and empty, not a soul around. A breeze swept by, and I wrinkled up my nose in disgust – the stench was bad. Worse than Central air. But it still seemed fairly clean, compared to the scent of the city on the other side.

Suddenly – pardon my ignorance – it occurred to me that I was _not_ sleeping in my bed back at home. I wasn't even in Resembool! Where was I then? All memory of the Gate had been lost as I passed through it. I had no idea where I was.

Then I saw something. Or, should I say, some_one_. I wasn't alone after all. The figure was standing very still, facing the water with his – for it was obviously a man – hands in his pockets. He had blonde hair pulled back into a simple ponytail. He was kind of tall. He wore a long brown jacket, which swayed in the small breeze. Something about his stance caught my attention. It was so firm, so sure, so powerful – and so sad. I quickly focused my attention to something else, trying not to feel unnecessary pain.

Then I saw his back.

I would recognize that back anywhere. It was a back I had to watch leave me all the time, not knowing where he was headed or when he would return.

Edward.

I started to rush forward, but when I heard him speak, I stopped.

"It's at times like this when I miss them the most," he muttered to himself. He lifted his face up to the empty sky. "I never even got to say goodbye." He paused for a moment. "What I wouldn't give just to hear her voice… one last time…"

"Edward?"

At that moment, he stiffened and spun around, his hands leaving their pockets. His eyes widened as they saw me. "W…Winry?"

"Edward!"

At that moment, I had no thought whatsoever but to hold him, make sure he was real, that this wasn't all a cruel dream. So I ran down the hill and pulled Ed into a tight embrace, knocking him off balance. He _was_ real. This wasn't a cruel dream. In my joy, I pulled him tighter to me. I would never let him go now.

I could tell he was blushing furiously, but he was still frozen in his earlier position. Just like last time **(1)**. But to my surprise, he slowly brought his arms up, and wrapped them around me, pulling me tightly to him as well. Now it was my turn to blush.

We stayed like that for a moment. To me, it was bliss. I could only hope he felt the same. Then something occurred to Edward, and he pulled away. "Wait, Winry – how did you get here?"

The thought hadn't even occurred to me. "I – I'm not sure, Ed," I whispered, confused. He gave a slight nod, looking slightly pained.

"Ed," I whispered again (we couldn't seem to raise our voices at all), "I've missed you so much!"

More pain crossed his face. "And do you think I didn't miss you?" he asked me.

A flash of annoyance was probably crossing my face right now. "I didn't say that!"

Ed rolled his eyes. "No, not _yet_."

Now you should _definitely_ be able to tell that I was annoyed. "Yet?! Edward Elric, you rude little shrimp!"

He laughed. "You can't call me a shrimp anymore, Winry. I'm a good few inches taller than you." He gestured to our heights. Even with me standing higher on the uneven ground, I didn't come close to him. Trust Ed to notice something like _that_ right off the bat.

I 'hmmph'ed. "Well, it took you long enough!" I teased, trying to annoy him. He just shrugged. "…Alchemy freak!" I added.

Silence.

"Alchemy doesn't work on this side of the Gate."

More silence. My eyes widened. "…Oh," was all I could say. "So you have absolutely nothing here but Al. Not even alchemy…" he nodded.

"And this world is constantly at war, too," he added. "They don't wear bright colors. They pollute the air. Women are expected to be obedient little housewives, with no job at all. And they enslave other people just because their skin is a different color. There are so many homeless people, and no one is willing to take the time to help them. They're prejudiced against foreign people, but with no knowledge of what they're really like at all. They think they're so civilized, but they don't have a clue what life is like next door to them. They don't seem to care."

I was appalled. "Then what good _does_ this world have?!" I asked, raising my voice slightly.

He looked upwards towards the sky again. "Machines that fly to the stars," he muttered. After a moment, he looked back at me. "I build them for a living now, you know."

I was confused now, on more than one level. "First of all, you do _what_?"

He rolled his eyes. "Come on, Winry, after all those automail repairs, don't you think that I'd pick up on how to use the tools?"

I gave him an incredulous glance. "You couldn't tell a spanner from a wrench the last time I checked," I informed him.

"And when was the last time you checked?"

I had no answer to that.

"I thought so."

Veins throbbing at Ed's sarcasm, I tried to change the subject. "Speaking of automail, how's yours holding up?"

He looked down at his right hand. "Well, it's in pretty good condition. You'd be surprised how hard I've tried to keep it in perfect shape. But they're a little short now, and they throw me off balance. I end up walking with a limp."

Now that I looked, I could tell that his left side was shorter than his right.

I rubbed my forehead. "Darn it," I muttered. "I don't have my kit with me at all."

Ed rubbed his neck. "I could get you top quality tools, easy," he said, "but I don't have any automail materials. Sorry."

I sighed. "I guess you'll have to deal with it for now," I told him.

"For now?"

I looked at him. "You don't think that I'll let you stay here forever, do you?"

He shrugged. That's when I noticed something.

"Ed," I mused, "you've gotten so much calmer now. Harder to annoy."

He gave me a wry grin. "That's what four years of exile does to you, I guess. But Al's just as chipper as ever. He always has been that way. I'm glad I didn't let him join the military. That would've sucked him dry."

"Speaking of the military," I said (the thought had just occurred to me), "They promoted you."

"Promoted me? How? I've haven't even been there!" Then he paused. He had figured it out. "Oh…" He turned his face to the ground.

I nodded. "Like they did with Mr. Hughes. For those who gave themselves for their country." I could barely let the words out.

He turned back up from the ground and looked at me curiously. "What did they promote me to?"

"Major General."

His eyes widened. "N-nani? _That_ high? But Lt. Colonel Hughes was only promoted two ranks! _And_ I'm out of duty!"

I simply nodded. "It was on the plaque."

If possible, his eyes got wider. "_Plaque_?"

I nodded again. "Under the memorial statue."

I swear, his eyes were as big as saucers by now.

"_Memorial statue?!_"

I was getting sick of nodding by now. "Yes. They made it in your honor. They had Major Armstrong make it for you out of solid gold. It's a very good likeness," I added. "The Major should've been an artist. They put the statue at the Central headquarters. It's depicting you in your usual **(2)** clothes…" I said, eyeing his unnaturally normal garb, "…with your arm transmuted, in the middle of a fight. But you looked quite confident."

He chuckled. "At least they're not making any jokes about my height."

I laughed. "Well, Mustang tried to, but they wouldn't let him."

Then he stopped. "Just Mustang? What happened to Colonel?"

I had forgotten that he didn't know. "Ed," I said gently, "Mustang hasn't been a Colonel since you left the first time."

Ed froze.

And he didn't move.

"Ed!" I said frantically, waving my hand in his face. "ED!"

He snapped back. "So many things that I've missed…" he said sadly, his eyes staring, yet unseeing, out into space.

I frowned. "Ed, back in Amestris, they told me the whole story. Why didn't you ever tell me these things? About homunculi? The ingredients of the stone? Anything! I might not have been able to help, but at least I could've been there for support! Why didn't you tell me a thing??"

He looked at me with an emotion I couldn't decipher – it was so foreign to Ed's face. "Because," he almost shouted, "I love you too much to pain you that way!"

…

"…L-love me?" I whispered.

Ed finally figured out that he said what he did, and a furious blush was instantly on his face. He faced the ground again – there must really be something interesting down there – and nodded.

"Yes."

I couldn't believe what I had heard. All this time, I had loved Ed from a distance, always wishing he would open up to me, or at least try not to get killed so often. I knew Ed had no time for love. But now, to hear him say that he had loved me all along…

Before either of us could really figure it out, we were both locked in each other's grasp. I could feel the heat spreading across both of our faces, but – thankfully – neither of us released our hold on the other. We continued to stand like that for quite a while, trapped in a big hug.

After a while, Ed released me. He didn't step away, though, which was what I as afraid he would do. Instead, he turned his head down to me – I wasn't used to that – and, with his eyes burning with that same undecipherable emotion – passion, I guessed – and kissed me. For a moment, I couldn't move, I was too surprised. But once I got my bearings, I threw my arms back around him and kissed him back. Now both of our faces were hotter than flames.

~*~*~*~*~

Local police officer Maes Hughes was walking home from a late night yelling at local drunks. He decided to walk slowly this time, and take in the peacefulness of the riverside. He was pausing to marvel at the beauty of it all when he saw one – no, two – people already there. A closer inspection proved it to be Ed and – wait for it – a _woman_!

'Impossible! _Ed_ with a _woman_? Kissing, no less!' was Hughes' first thought. But he looked again, nonetheless.

It was Ed. There was no mistaking it. But who was this girl? He was sure he knew every face in Munich, but that one was unfamiliar. He would have to ask Ed about it tomorrow. But Ed could easily deny seeing anyone…

Finally, Hughes had an idea. He pulled out a camera **(3)** and aimed it at Ed. He knew Ed would be too preoccupied to notice.

~*~*~*~*~

**(1) When Ed and Winry saw each other again in COS – Winry said something along the lines of "I was wondering when you'd show" and then she hugged him. Practically glomped him! XD **

**(2) Usual, as in his usual black garb that he wore in Amestris.**

**(3) I don't know how he did that. The cameras back then were NOT carry-in-your-pocket sized. -_-' But hey, this is a fanfic. Anything goes.**

**I was happy adding Hughes into the story. I love that guy! ^_^ He rulz! He's the definition of beast! Well, him and Ed and Al. ^_^**

**And please, this wasn't meant to be for an audience originally, so no flames.**

**Please read and review! I strongly dislike it when people put me on Story Alert or Favorite Stories without reviewing. To be frank, it pisses me off.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**- Sil/Kane**


	2. Home

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!! GOMEN! GOMEN NASAI FOR BEING SO FREAKING LATE ON THIS CHAPTER!! *dodges weapons being thrown* GOMEN NASAI! *dodges more weapons* ACK! TASUKITE!!!!!! EDO-KUN! TASUKITE!!!

**Ed Lover FMA 77 – Yeah, there's more. It just took me over a month to get off my lazy butt and write it. Gomen nasai!**

**To all: In this chapter, I'm going to do a little twist with the languages here. In the previous chapter, I had it all in English. But today (4-02-09) I thought "Wait. FMA was originally written in Japanese. So how does Ed get along in Germany so easily? He doesn't know German!" So I decided to throw it in there.**

Gomen – Sorry

Gomen nasai – Polite version of Gomen

Nani – What

Ina – No, Nay

Baka – Idiot

Hughes no baka! – Hughes you idiot!

Chikushou – D*mn

~*~*~*~*~

~ A Few Days Later ~

'Germany. What a beautiful country,' Hughes thought as he walked off to work, stopping by the riverbank. He paused for a moment, soaking in the beauty of the sunlight shining across the water, the birds singing, the slight wind making the leaves rustle ever so slightly. Days like this were rare. 'If only they came more often,' he thought, his mind drifting. Without thinking, his hand traveled up to his shirt pocket, where he felt two things – one large and hard, the other large and flimsy. These objects, however trivial, brought him back to earth.

"Darn it," he grumbled, checking the time. "I'm going to be late for work." And with that, he continued on his way.

~*~*~*~*~

By this time of the day, the sun had risen high into the faded blue sky. It was still beautiful outside. The sun was smiling, the birds were merrily flying about, and everyone was walking amiably outside in hope of capturing a faint ray of the sunlight streaming around them. Yes, it was surely a beautiful day. But in the town square, the local drunks were arguing and laughing at the top of their lungs, mindless of the disruption they were causing, ignoring the looks they were receiving, and just pleasantly going about their business – if you could call disturbing the peace their business. Mentally, Hughes sighed. 'Why am I the one who has to deal with these buffoons?' he thought to himself. He walked over to them firmly, displaying quite the annoyed air. But the drunks, if they noticed his arrival at all, made no notice of it – thereby killing any chance to resolve this without actually having to tell those boys off. Even if they were annoying, he really did enjoy their company during the day. But business was business, and he had to do his job if he wanted to keep living in his apartment instead of the streets. So, wearily but firmly, he headed over. He had a speech prepared and waiting in his head for moments like this, and just when he was about to deliver it, the telltale sound of thumping metal became known to his ears. A certain somebody was walking this way. Sure enough, a few moments later, Edward Elric came into view.

"Oi, Edward!" came the voice of one of the drunks, choosing that particular moment to become aware of his surroundings. "Care to join us?"

Ed, whose attention had been somewhere else entirely – he probably hadn't even noticed the local drunks - turned at the sound of his name. When he saw who had spoken, a small smirk stole its way across his face. "Come on, guys, you know I don't drink!"

The men laughed. "Then you'd better get started!" came the reply. This crude comment brought another round of laughter and general elbow-nudging for the lot of them. Ed sighed and rolled his eyes – Hughes as well, I might add - and prepared to walk on.

"Ed!" This voice, however, did not come from any of the town's inebriated citizens.

Ed turned, semi-impatiently, towards the owner of the voice. "What is it now, Hughes?"

Hughes smirked, deciding to let Ed slide with the lack of any formality **(1)** – at least, for now. He had something to talk about with Edward. He had been waiting for an opportunity to bring this up since "that night", as he had come to call it. He had been so eager to bring it up, but since that quite eventful night, he had not seen Edward at all. So in all predictability, he was not going to let this opportunity slip through his fingers. Oh no. This was the time to act.

"How is your friend doing?"

_Friend?_ To put it mildly, Ed was utterly lost. "Friend? Who are you talking about?" And in all honesty, Edward really did not know. He could not think of anybody Hughes might be referring to in the slightest. Noa had long since moved away, but frequently sent letters to Ed and Al. He might have been referring to her… But the only problem with that suggestion would be that she also sent letters to Gracia – and with Hughes' affection for her, more obvious as of late, he would have brought this up with Gracia instead of Edward as an excuse to talk to her. There was nobody else that Edward could think of. Maybe Hughes was mistaken? Maybe he had mistaken the woman he had helped in town a few weeks ago as a friend? No, even Hughes would have been able to tell that she was nobody he knew! So what could it be?

Hughes smiled – more like smirked – at Ed's childishly confused response. "The one you were – how should I put it - _talking_ to by the river a few nights ago."

To say that Ed turned red would be an understatement. "N-nani?!" It took but a moment for Edward to realize his slip-up **(2)**. So, hoping desperately that no one had yet noticed, he made a desperate attempt to cover it up. "I-I don't know what you're talking about, Hughes! You must have been mistaken! I-I mean, you said it was night, right? You might've thought I was someone else! I haven't been anywhere near the river at night in quite a while!" he started to chuckle nervously.

One of the "inebriated citizens" that was leaning against the wall of the bar looked at one of his drinking buddies. "What did he say?" he muttered to his friend softly. "What was that word? N-nonnie or something? What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

His friend shrugged, unconcerned. "Who cares?"

"Wait!" cried another man from the group, apparently struck by thought. _'Hmph. That'll be a first'_, was Hughes' response. "Ed," continued the man, "do you have a _girlfriend_?" He had to have picked that particular moment to regain his senses.

Hughes' chuckled mentally. _'This is turning out even better than I had originally hoped for,'_ he thought. _'And that's an added bonus. That last question sure sobered up that bunch. One less problem to deal with, and more grief for Ed.'_

"Ina!" Ed yelled. "I _don't_ have a girlfriend! I swear! So just shut up already! Bakas!" He was trying to appear simply annoyed, as though the whole thing was just a misunderstanding that was wasting his time, but he looked flustered and embarrassed to the viewers of this little scene.

Finally, something about this conversation clicked in Hughes' brain, and he turned to Ed with a confused look. "Edward, what are you saying? You've been using words that I know for a fact aren't German. Ina? What does that even mean, anyway?"

Ed's relief was clearly visible. It would be obvious to even the most intoxicated person in Germany that he was desperate to get off of the previous subject. "I-it's my native language. I tend to revert to it when I get flustered or annoyed."

Maes was mildly surprised. "You originally spoke a different language?" Ed nodded. "You speak ours so fluently, I never would've guessed!" The nearby men nodded assent. "What exactly _is_ your native language, anyway?"

Edward rubbed the back of his neck. "J-japanese," he said. **(3)**

"Japanese is a hard language to learn, or so I'm told," said Hughes. "To be able to speak that and a second language so fluently?" He gave a nod of approval. "That's no small feat there, son." Then he realized something and turned to Ed with a malicious grin. "But back to the matter at hand."

Ed grew flustered once again. "I-I told you, I-"

Hughes cut him off by waving a flimsy piece of paper in his face. "Then what's this?" he asked cockily. Ed grasped the paper to get a good view of it – an object being waved in front of your face doesn't do any good for the eyes. His jaw dropped as he processed what was on the paper. "N-NANI?!?! What the heck, Hughes?! How did you-"

Hughes smirked evilly. "You were a little too – _preoccupied_ to notice, Ed. I'm not surprised you don't remember." He then took the paper away from Ed – who lunged for it and narrowly missed, cursing all the while – and handed it over to the nearest drunkard.

"Holy crap, Edward! That's a great girl you got there!" he laughed and passed the photograph along to his friends, who all had their share of comments about it, complete with laughter and more elbow-nudges. By the time the photo got back to Hughes, Ed was a bright red mess.

"HUGHES NO BAKA! GIMME THE ~CENSORED~ PICTURE ALREADY! CHIKUSHOU! GIVE IT BACK, YOU ~CENSORED~ EXCUSE FOR A POLICEMAN!"

Hughes held Ed off with one hand while the other dangled the picture threateningly, while Ed wildly thrashed his arms around in a desperate attempt to retrieve the very embarrassing photo. "Mind your manners, kid." He said casually. "Such language isn't suitable for someone so young, even if you are a legal adult." He looked at the picture for a moment, and finally, something about the picture registered in his brain. For the second time that day, a confused look stole its way across his face. "I thought I knew every face in Munich **(4)**," he said, "But I can't figure out for the life of me who this girl is." He looked at Ed questioningly. Ed momentarily halted his thrashing about to answer. He was already a sunken ship – might as well. He had nothing to lose now anyway.

Ed rolled his eyes, sighing. "That was my auto – er, my mechanic. She's the one who made my limbs. **(5)** I haven't really seen her for four years, okay? Are you happy now?" **(6)**

Hughes wasn't satisfied. "She didn't fix your limbs, though," he noted, staring at the obvious limp Edward still sported. "Does that mean she didn't stay?"

Ed growled at him. "That's none of your concern!" he snapped. With that, he stood up straight, adjusted his clothing, and stalked off angrily, grabbing the photo out of Hughes' unsuspecting hand as he swept past him.

Hughes looked at Ed's retreating back. "Not a very nice temper," he commented idly.

"I concur," commented one of the nearby men. Hughes could tell who it was without looking. When that particular man wasn't drunk, he had quite the eloquent tongue – it was a shame he didn't put it to use more often.

"Excuse me," came a nearby voice, startling Hughes out of his thoughts. He turned. A figure he recognized by face but not name smiled up at him innocently. "Have you come across a young man named Edward Elric recently?"

~*~*~*~*~

'_Does that mean she didn't stay?'_ The words echoed in Ed's mind repeatedly, refusing to give Ed even momentary respite from his painful and demanding thoughts and memories. He wished they would stop, if only for a moment. They hurt so badly.

Truth be told, she _couldn't _stay. As soon as the sun came up, she was gone. Simply not there. It was as if he had blinked, and she was no longer in front of him, a void in the place she had once filled. But he hadn't blinked. He _saw_ her as she disappeared, even though it had only lasted a moment. But during that moment, Edward could have sworn he had seen a glimpse of the Gate behind her, pulling her towards its doors – towards the other side, where his home - his _real_ home - was. But that couldn't have been true, could it? Why would The Gate have been there? What did this have to do with Winry? He wasn't sure yet. Heck, he wasn't sure of _anything_ at the moment. The only thing he _was_ sure of was that the Winry he had seen that night hadn't been a dream.

'_I promise, Ed, I _will_ find a way for you to get home. Just trust me. Trust me and wait.'_ That was the last thing she had said to him before she was taken away. Over the past few days – it had been about a week – he had repeated it in his head over and over.

"She'll get me home?" he muttered miserably. "Yeah, right. It'll never work. Al and I have tried so many times to no avail, and no one back home knows how The Gate works. We should just accept it and not get our hopes up – Al and I are stranded here."

"What did you say, Nii-san?"

Ed looked up, pulled out of his thoughts. Without realizing it, he had walked all the way to the apartment he and his brother shared. "Nothing, Al!" he called up to the boy – no, man – on the balcony of their second story apartment. Alphonse smiled happily and motioned to his brother excitedly.

"Nii-san! Come up! You won't _believe_ who's here!" Ed frowned. It wasn't like Al to let people in. Cats, of course, but people? Not often. Curious, he went up to their apartment – and nearly broke every bone in his body.

"Edward Elric! How much I've missed you! Not a day goes by that I don't remember you!" The figure smiled, tears and little sparkly thingies surrounding him. **(A/N: Dead giveaway…)**

Ed couldn't breathe.

"Major, please let Nii-san down! You're choking him!" Thankfully, Ed was released. He sat on the floor, gasping for air and doing a cursory examination of his body to ensure that nothing had been broken. When he was sure that he wasn't dead and he could still breathe, he looked up at the giant standing in front of him. "_Major Armstrong_?!?!" he cried, shocked.

Al nodded vigorously from around the Major. "Yes! The Major is here! From Central! He said that he knows how to get us home! Home, Nii-san! Back to Amestris!"

"H-how?" Ed cried in disbelief.

Al smiled. "Winry! She found out a way to get through The Gate without losing anything and take us back too! She found it! And then she came to Central and got everyone! They're waiting on the other side! They're going to take us back with them!" Al's joy was purely contagious – before long, the Major was showing off his muscles ecstatically.

Ed was surprised – to say the least. "Wait – _everyone_?"

Al's smile got even bigger. "Yeah! Lt. Hawkeye and Mustang and Breda and Feury and Havoc and Falman and everyone! They're not all here, though. Major here volunteered to find us, so he's here-"

'Typical Major,' Ed thought.

"-And Winry is out looking for-"

The door burst open, slamming into the wall, and definitely leaving an indentation of the doorknob behind. "Edward Elric! Do you know how fast you walk when you're thinking? My God, I got lost trying to keep up with you!"

Ed's eyes grew as wide as they could possibly go. "Winry?!"

She placed her hands on her knees, panted for a moment, and then looked up and nodded. "I told you I'd get you back, didn't I?"

He nodded dumbly, not trusting his voice.

"Then why are you acting as if you're so surprised?!" She smacked him on the head and then hugged him tightly. Ed just sat still. It was smarter not to do anything that would trigger another slap – or worse. Ed wouldn't have been surprised if she had brought her wrench along.

When Winry let go of Ed, she smiled and headed towards the door. At the threshold, she paused and turned to the people behind her. "You ready to go home?"

A growing smile appeared on Ed's face. He nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be." Al nodded his assent.

~Cue music~

END

~*~*~*~*~

**(1) I mean Mr., Mrs., Officer… like that. I don't mean san or kun this time.**

**(2) When he turned red and started stuttering, if that wasn't clear.**

**(3) I just used the closest English equivalent – I mean jeez, you expect me to be fluent in Amestrian? O.o**

**(4) I haven't seen the movie in a while, so I'm going to say it's Munich. I'm right, aren't I?**

**(5) For the sake of this fanfiction, please just assume that they know he has prosthetic limbs.**

**(6) Poor Ed… He didn't count the five minutes in Conqueror of Shamballa, did he? *sob***

**Please review if you do anything at all with this story. I don't want somebody to put this story on Favorite story and stuff (Yeah, like anybody's going to do THAT) without reviewing. It makes me feel unloved.**

**Kane (Sil)**


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